He Yuhong, a Chinese beauty vlogger who goes by the online name “Yuyamika”, have released a video in which she talks of suffering domestic violence from her ex-partner. The video have reignited conversations about whether enough is being done to help victims of domestic violence.
The vlogger is known for transforming herself into celebrities, including John Lennon and Taylor Swift. Ms He has a huge following for make-up tutorial videos both in China and overseas. She has more than 750,000 followers on Instagram alone.
On Monday, she released a video on her Sina Weibo account on the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
In it, she claimed her former partner, a 44-year-old illustrator, abused her repeatedly during their year-long relationship.
On November 25 she posted on her Weibo account: “For the past six months, I seem to have been living in a nightmare.”
She shared a surveillance footage from an apartment lift in August that she said was of her and Mr Chen.
The footage showed a woman being violently dragged by her ankles.
“He kept kicking my body, and I was so scared that I could only lie down on the ground and wait until he finished blowing off steam,” Ms He said.
She also shared video interviews with two women, who claimed to be his ex-wives, speaking of their own alleged experiences of domestic violence.
The video also featured testimonials from people who claimed to have seen Mr Chen hit Ms He.
Her ex-boyfriend, Mr Chen, has not responded publicly to the allegations.
Police investigating the allegations in the south-western city of Chongqing say Mr Chen has been placed in administrative detention for 20 days.
The local Jiangbei District police force said on their Weibo account that they “found out that Chen had committed illegal acts that threatened the personal safety of other parties through We Chat”.
Ms He filed a restraining order on Wednesday which the court had granted “based on the facts found”, police said.
In her social media post, Ms He used the hashtag #NoLongerSilentFacedWithDV, which has since going viral.
More than 720,000 users have posted messages using the hashtag, many speaking of their own experiences with domestic violence.
The All-China Women’s Federation has been particularly vocal in highlighting experiences of abuse.
It said this week that as many as 30% of China’s married women have suffered some form of domestic violence.
The official China Daily says the figure is at least 90 million women, and the official People’s Daily says that children, as well as partners, are injured in as many as 63 million households.
A 2017 UN Women report found that between March 2016 and October 2017, at least 635 adults and children died from domestic violence in China. (Source: BBC)